The present invention relates to a pneumatic motorcycle tire, more particularly to a tread pattern capable of improving drainage performance and handling stability in good balance.
In recent years, with the developments of expressway network and high power motorcycles, pneumatic tires for such motorcycles are required to have highly improved controllability or handling stability.
For example, in Japanese patent application publication No. 2013-519563 (corresponding to WO2011/098406A1), a pneumatic motorcycle tire is disclosed, wherein the tread pattern shown in FIG. 2 comprises wide oblique grooves extending from the tire equator to the tread edges, and narrow oblique grooves extending therealong in order to improve the grip performance. The axially inner ends of the narrow oblique grooves are positioned in the tread shoulder portions, namely, the narrow oblique grooves do not extend to a vicinity of the tire equator. Therefore, the rigidity of the tread portion becomes relatively high in the tread crown portion. As a result, during straight running, the tread crown portion can not deflect sufficiently to absorb shocks and vibrations caused by rough road surfaces, and the ride comfort and handling stability may be affected.